LXXI. To
Zeno,17161716 Zeno was Consul in 448. cf. Ep. LXV.General and Consul.

Your fortitude rouses universal
admiration, tempered as it is by gentleness and meekness, and exhibited
to your household in kindliness, to your foes in boldness. These
qualities indicate an admirable general. In a soldier’s character
the main ornament is bravery, but in a commander prudence takes
precedence of bravery; after these come self-control and fairness,
whereby a wealth of virtue is gathered. Such wealth is the reward of
the soul which reaches after good, and with its eyes fixed on the
sweetness of the fruit, deems the toil right pleasant. For to
virtue’s athletes the God of all, like some great giver of games,
has offered prizes, some in this life, and some in that life beyond
which has no end. Those in this present life your excellency has
already enjoyed, and you have achieved the highest honour. Be it also
the lot of your greatness to obtain too those abiding and perpetual
blessings, and to re271ceive not only the consul’s robe, but also the garment
that is indescribable and divine. Of all them that understand the
greatness of that gift this is the common petition.